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Time To Think Differently

New AICPA chairman committed to approaching challenges from broad perspective.

BY KIM NILSEN

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Ernie Almonte, the 2008 - 2009 AICPA board chairman, believes
that thinking and acting differently is critical to success in our
rapidly changing world. As Almonte begins his one-year term, he is
stressing the importance of the profession remaining open to
shifting perspectives and different voices. Almonte brings to
the chairman's role his own varied history. He is a martial arts
aficionado and a voracious reader. He studied accounting at the urging
of his father, an Italian immigrant who ran an ice cream distribution
business in his adopted state of Rhode Island. Almonte launched his
own accounting firm in Rhode Island and went on to become the state's
auditor general.

His term begins Oct. 21 against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.
Over the coming year, the profession is expected to face major issues,
such as movement toward the acceptance of IFRS. At the same time, the
AICPA is addressing issues including recruiting, succession planning
and mobility provisions. While advocating for members on those issues,
Almonte also brings to the chairman's office the goal of developing a
diverse group of future leaders through a targeted coaching and
mentoring effort.

"I know we can accomplish great things," he says of the
year ahead.

As Rhode Island's appointed auditor general, he oversees the single
audit of the state, which includes the state's financial statements
with revenues of nearly $7 billion, and assesses compliance for
federal grant programs totaling nearly $3 billion. He's responsible
for municipal oversight, performance audits, fraud audits and
oversight of quasi-public agencies. "I'm very proud to be the
first chairman of the AICPA to come from the government sector. I want
people to be aware of the critical role that CPAs serve in
government," he says. "That role is no less challenging
compared to those serving the business community, and we're really no
different from other CPAs." Almonte also sees his role as the
AICPA's first government chairman as evidence that the Institute is
committed to approaching challenges from the broadest possible
perspective.

A WILLING ADVOCATE As AICPA chairman, Almonte will champion several key ongoing
Institute efforts. "One is getting enough new accountants into
the profession," he says. The AICPA will build on the successes
of the "Start Here. Go Places." effort, which aims to
interest high school and college students in accounting careers.

At the same time, he says, the Institute is addressing the shortage
of Ph.D.s in accounting education by helping to lead an effort to
raise money to fund scholarships for Ph.D. candidates studying
auditing and tax. The AICPA Foundation is administering Accounting
Doctoral Scholars, a program announced in July that is bringing the
largest accounting firms together around the goal of reversing the
shortage of Ph.D. accounting faculty at colleges and universities. The
country's biggest firms and several state CPA societies have committed
more than $15 million to the program so far.

Almonte says the institute must continue to address a pipeline issue
of a different sort-succession planning. The aging of the baby boomers
is affecting all segments of the profession. "In our office, and
it's the same in many firms, in the next five years we'll probably
lose about 20% of our senior staff," he says. In June, the AICPA
launched the Succession Planning Resource Center to help small and
medium firms, which can be particularly vulnerable to the loss of a
leader, prepare for major transitions.

The AICPA will continue to seek passage of mobility legislation
state by state that would allow CPAs to do business across state lines
without getting an additional license in the state where they will be
serving a client.

During his term, certain large public companies are likely to begin
preparing for the early use of IFRS. The early adopters would be part
of an SEC proposal to track progress on a series of milestones and
decide in 2011 whether to mandate the use of IFRS by U.S. public
companies beginning in 2014.

"I see the AICPA as being a key resource in helping our more
than 350,000 members understand International Financial Reporting
Standards, make them easy to implement, less complex, and raise the
quality of both the preparation of the financial statements and the
audits of the financial statements," Almonte says.

The AICPA must also play a role, he says, in ensuring the public
understands what the potential shift to international standards means
and how they can read financial statements prepared using IFRS and use
those statements to make financial decisions. The Institute launched
the Web site www.ifrs.com this spring to provide IFRS news, articles,
videos and information about courses, conferences and publications.

The coming year will also bring increased efforts to meet the needs
of members in business and industry the largest single segment of
AICPA membership. "We'll be focused on increasing the AICPA's
value to members in business and industry, improving their skill set,
and ultimately making them more valuable to their organizations,"
Almonte says.

BUILDING LEADERSIn addition to championing the Institute's overarching goals,
Almonte, like previous AICPA chairs, is bringing a personal passion to
the table during his term equipping emerging CPAs with leadership
skills. He is working with AICPA staff to launch an academy program to
coach and mentor CPAs. Almonte envisions participants would receive
one-on-one coaching following an intense group program. He'd like the
program to serve as something of a farm team to groom future committee
and task force leaders and, ultimately, AICPA board members and
chairs.

The leadership program would focus heavily, though not exclusively,
on emerging minority leaders. Diversity in the profession, especially
in leadership roles, is an area Almonte is intently focused on.
"It's important that our leadership reflects our
membership," he says. "I've been involved in many boards in
my career and I found that as you look around the room, if everyone
looks like you and acts like you, you're losing the opportunity for
different, and perhaps better, solutions to a problem."

"To me being a leader is more than just a title. It's using
your leadership skills to help others make a decision," he says.

PUBLIC SERVICEAlmonte has served as auditor general since 1994 at the pleasure
of the state Legislature. "I would say the most challenging part
of my job is that there's often a conflict between a good political
decision and a good financial decision," he says. "But it
feels really good when I walk through the airport and know that we
just did something that saved our state or one of our cities millions
of dollars. That makes you feel great. It's worth more than money."

Almonte ran his own practice from 1982 to 1994. "I loved owning
my own firm," he says. "Every day I could work on something
different. I was never bored. I could do a tax return, prepare a
financial statement, help a client buy a company, go out and
investigate the company, review legal documents with the attorneys,
help them make financial decisions. Every day was exciting."

The demands of the firm meant considerable time away from home and
his family, including his five sons. His father had worked long hours
in the restaurant and ice cream business, heading off to work at 5 in
the morning and coming home around 11 at night every day. "I
didn't get to see too much of him unless I was riding in the truck
with him," Almonte says. "I knew then that wasn't the type
of work I wanted to do. So that had an impact on me, but I saw that
working hard was really important. Plus I also saw his interaction
with customers and how he always treated them with respect and how
they treated him with respect. So I learned what business was all
about treating people with respect."

When Almonte heard that the state auditor general's position was
opening up, he threw his hat in the ring. Although the public office
is less lucrative than public accounting, he doesn't regret the move.
"While serving as the state's auditor general is demanding in
different ways, my overall work/life balance has improved. I became a
soccer coach, a Boy Scout leader. I was able to go to my sons' games.
I've never been happier in my life than watching my boys grow
up," he says. "And I love my job in government, because I'm
helping the million people that live in the state of Rhode Island have
a better world, too, by being the watchdog over the finances of our
state. So it's the best of all worlds to me."

Former AICPA Chairman Bob Bunting says Almonte's experience in
government and his understanding of how political systems work will be
an asset as the profession weathers a change in administrations in
Washington, D.C. "More importantly, while serving with him on the
AICPA board, I've seen how his energy and problem-solving ability have
worked wonders in building bridges with other professionals,
influencers and regulators," Bunting says. "The AICPA has
been fortunate in how frequently it chooses the right chair at the
right time. Ernie seems like one of those prescient choices."

A CONTRACT BETWEEN YOU AND ERNIEAlmonte often weaves into his speeches the subject of his
business card. On the back of his card, he printed his office's
mission statement and its core values integrity, reliability,
independence and accountability.

When he hands a new acquaintance his card, he presents it with the
reverse side up, saying, "this is a contract between myself and
you that I'll give you integrity, reliability, independence and
accountability and you can call me on it anytime you want my number's
on the other side."

Almonte brings the same open door policy with him to the AICPA
chairman's office. He wants to hear from members (see box below for
contact information) about their concerns and the challenges they're
facing. "What troubles you or keeps you awake at night about our
profession? How could the AICPA help you to be more successful? Tell
me. Make your suggestion to me and I'll address it," he says.

While he works to avoid political scrapes as auditor general,
Almonte is a fighter. His three-car garage has been turned into a gym,
where he keeps weights, speed bags and other equipment for his martial
arts practice. A poster of Muhammad Ali hangs on the wall, along with
an American flag.

"I've been involved with martial arts since high school,"
Almonte says. "It's a great way to stay in shape and burn off
whatever stress you have at work. You have to because you can't
breathe after 30 minutes. You forget about your problems."

He's determined to bring the same drive to bear for AICPA members.
"We're already a world-class organization, but I'll only be happy
when we bring it to that next level," Almonte says.
"Whatever that might be it will always include helping our
members be successful but never forgetting the 'P' in the CPA stands
for public and the public interest we have both roles to play."

ERNIE ALMONTE

Title: AICPA board chairman; Rhode Island's
auditor generalE-mail:ealmonte@aicpa.orgFamily: Wife, Kathy; five sons: Christopher,
David, Stephen, Ryan and Patrick Education: Bachelor of science in business
administration and a master of science in taxation from Bryant
University; graduate of two Harvard Kennedy School programs: Senior
Executives in State and Local Government, and Innovations in
Governance First paying job: Working on a chicken farm
at age 14 Hobbies: Martial arts; reading Recommended reads: Almonte reads, on
average, one book per week. His favorites include Daniel Pink’s A
Whole New Mind; Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point; and Execution:
The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Warren Adler, Larry Bossidy
and Ram Charan Biggest professional influences: Former
AICPA chairs Bob Bunting and Leslie Murphy; former U.S. Comptroller
General David Walker; and George Willie, CPA, managing partner, Bert
Smith & Co.

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